electric fans

Ken Arms

Ken Arms

Well-known member
For a bunch of reasons I want to put an electric fan in my 34. Please don't judge me! My issue is room, I bought one from Cooling components but its too thick. What that means is the motor on fan sticks out far enough to hit my pully on alternator. This is a 59ab with a 12v conversion. the alternator sits at center like the original generator did. Has anyone on the barn made this change and if so what fan did you use? I have only 2 3/4 inches from radiator core to pulley. Thanks for any help. Ken
 
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I have a '38 which has the tall, narrow radiator like your '34. The shroud doesn't cover the entire core, so I placed it at the bottom for clearance. Mine is on an 8BA engine. I used the 16 series fan that requires 4" of clearance and put the motor in the area below the alternator. I really like the Cooling Component fan. It is quiet and it cools the engine in Mississippi summer heat.
 

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Do you have room in front of the radiator to mount? I mounted my 48 in front of the rad to add additional flow to help the stock fan. Texas summer heat.
 
my cooling components is a 1650, I did notice they make a lower profile 1700 series that might work. the one I have would work if I lowered it but because im using a crab front distributor it makes everything too tight. Thanks so far guys. you got me thinkin!
 
DD, so I won a walker radiator at a nsra show, the radiator had no fan tunnel in the top tank for the fan to clear. I had a local shop make a tunnel. unfortunately it is a bit too narrow, the fan misses but its too close for comfort. on a 34 if you want your hood to fit well against the grill there is no front to rear adjustment to correct this. Also I have heard that these chevy alternators we tend to use with 12v conversions do not have a heavy enough bearing to swing Henrys steel fan for long without issues. I ran the car for its first summer with some shims under the front motor mounts that helped the clearance issue but now I'm hearing some faint noise at alt. With the shims in place my engine crank wont line up with crank pulley, not that I plan to crank start it but its nice to turn engine for valve adjusting ect. Ken
 
Im going to call Cooling Components today, looks like they have a narrow version that would work, fingers crossed they take this one back. Ken
 
Ken Arms said:
DD, so I won a walker radiator at a nsra show, the radiator had no fan tunnel in the top tank for the fan to clear. I had a local shop make a tunnel. unfortunately it is a bit too narrow, the fan misses but its too close for comfort. on a 34 if you want your hood to fit well against the grill there is no front to rear adjustment to correct this. Also I have heard that these chevy alternators we tend to use with 12v conversions do not have a heavy enough bearing to swing Henrys steel fan for long without issues. I ran the car for its first summer with some shims under the front motor mounts that helped the clearance issue but now I'm hearing some faint noise at alt. With the shims in place my engine crank wont line up with crank pulley, not that I plan to crank start it but its nice to turn engine for valve adjusting ect. Ken
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Hey Ken....I appreciate that reply. I understand the situation, especially with the hood/grill/radiator adjustment window (or lack thereof). And yes, those GM alternator bearings are not made to handle that thrust load very well, but that is a relatively cheap bearing and reasonably simple to R&R on a fairly regular basis....just sayin'. I would buy a quality bearing, though. Hoping that Walker will come thru for ya on the radiator swap. DD
 
So, just an update..I bought a Cooling Component 1750, its much more shallow and fits the 34 without issues. yay! tolerances are close at alternator pulley but it fits. They were nice enough to accept the 1650 back on return so 1750 is the way to go if you want an electric fan with a stock 34 running a 59ab. Ken
 
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